Chapter 17: Trust

[Floor Minus **]

We push our drill ghost girl through the walls of that closed room until we uncover a cramped passageway that leads to who knows where. It's still better than going around mindlessly. The light from the makeshift torch (from Liri's wood magic) reveals the path before us, but I still assign drill girl in front to deter any surprise traps along the way. It's also interesting to note how the walls she "erase" never recover like they should, but without any background in magic, I can't come up with a proper explanation

To pass the time, I tell Liri my adventures during my poisoned state. But it's too surreal to pass as a true story.

"...So not only did you meet the sun goddess while dreaming, but ghost girl is also a goddess? Just how potent was that poison?"

"Not potent enough to do its job, it seems."

"But real or not, you really might be meeting them again if we don't find any supplies, especially water! There are no natural water sources in the dungeon, and eating monsters is a no 'cause they'll turn to drops if you kill them."

"What about magic? Can't you magic us an apple?"

"You never learned about basic Magic Law?"

"I—I'm bad with magic, anything wrong with that?"

"Hihi, oh well, I'll explain. The first rule is that you need mana to do magic. And that mana comes from the sun, which is then stored in our body's mana pool. In adventurer's term, we call that mana pool 'MP'. And do you know what that means?"

"...Praise the sun goddess?"

"That I can't naturally recharge my MP down here unless I use a mana potion. We don't have any now."

"Okay, but what's stopping you from using magic WITHOUT the sun?"

"No no, I didn't say anything like that at all. There's this thing spellcasters call the Fifth Process."

"The fifth process...?"

"Breakdown of magic. Everything created through magic has a time limit until it disappears once again into nothingness. Well, there are exceptions to this rule, but they're very very rare. Divine Artifact rare. What I'm saying is, if I make an apple with my nature magic, and you eat it, it's just going to disappear inside your body. Even that torch you're holding now will disappear in an hour, and I'll have to make a new one. I'm not sure, but I probably have enough mana left to make around... two hundred more."

"Huh, good to know. But is it true for the opposite as well?"

"Opposite?"

"What about things destroyed by magic? Do they return as well?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure, but shouldn't they? It's the reverse of the Fifth Process. Oh! Before I forget, magic's effects on objects don't disappear. If you break a rock with magic, it'll stay broken, okay? Lots of kids get confused about that, but you should be alright, right?"

"...Somehow."

"Hihi, I kinda like this teacher thing. Maybe I should keep it up once we're out of here?"

... But how does that explain her?

I'll think of it later. This is bad. A human can live without air for three minutes. Water for three days. Food for three weeks. Air is thankfully not a problem (for now), but water is. Our limit is definitely three days. No, less since this dungeon and its monsters are going to drain our energy faster.

At the end of this passageway is wide empty room, very similar to the boss rooms we've been through before. But just like the 30th floor, there's no sign of a boss around, only emptiness and two other exits that lead to a vast darkness.

"We should check everything out! Right, Rose?"

"Fine, but no touching anything weird, strange, freaky, or generally anything."

"Yessir."

We split up to search the place for anything useful, like a secret passageway where we came from, but it was a fruitless effort. It's just an empty air-filled room with two other exits — hallways I suppose leading to the stair going up or down.

There really comes a point when not finding a boss monster is a lot more unnerving than finding one. It's eerie and nerve-wracking. Are we doing something wrong? Are we even on the right path?

I'm too worried, and my guts are telling me that something is terribly wrong. But we can't waste time here when we don't even have food and water to last us long. What should I do? Are we really going to survive like this?

"Rose? You don't look too good. Do you want to take a break...?"

"We'll rest once we find some water. For now, let's decide which exit to take."

There are two exits, left and right, and we don't have a map.

"What do you think, Liri?"

"Did you know, there's a method of solving every maze puzzle! So you place your right hand on the right wall, and if you keep following it you'll eventually find an exit."

"Doing that in a labyrinth as wide as a city will get you killed of thirst or hunger, whatever comes first before you'll find an exit. Let's go with luck instead."

I grab one of the five transparent G coins I have in my pocket — the coins that started it all.

"Heads, we go left. Tails, we go right."

The transparent coin spins round and round the air, and as it falls I catch it and slap the coin on the back of my other hand.

"Right."

"Right."

"You think it's right?"

"I think it's alright."

And thus we take the right exit, with our makeshift torch to scare away the darkness and the cold.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

Liri and I both hear my complaining stomach all over the labyrinth. It's been a while since I last had something in my mouth that wasn't blood.

We've been walking these wide empty halls for hours, and we haven't come across anything. No monster, no trap, no split in the way, no stairs, no nothing. Just an endless repetition of the unchanging walls, floor, and darkness. This is definitely weird, and I've been through lots of weird.

"Hey Liri, what floor are we again?"

"I don't know, but I remember it was a long way down that traphole. Guu... I miss eating."

Liri has her hands on her bare stomach. How long have we been walking? It's almost like we're going in circles. Haa, bored and hungry, the combination I hate the most. I guess now's a good time as any to ask something that's bothered me.

"Hey Liri, you said you decided to leave the other dark elves because... you wanted to be like a human, right? Where'd you get that kind of idea anyways?"

"Hmmm... It must have been from my old duty back at my tribe? I was in charge of maintaining our archives, so I got to read lots of books made by humans. Their refined culture, their imposing strength through ingenuity, their extensive knowledge of magic —— who wouldn't fall in love?"

"Archive? What's that, some kind of library? What for?"

"We really like collecting stuff, especially books, so yeah, it's more of a library. We've done it ever since our ancestors walked the lands. It's a dark elf tradition, collecting anything and everything that imparts knowledge. We even have scrolls from thousands of years ago. I dunno why, though. I'll show you once we get out of here! ...Although I don't think they'll let me in anymore."

"That's oddly interesting."

"..."

Well, that confirms it.

We continue walking, occasionally talking about random stuff like what the weather could be like outside or if it's possible to find underground lakes down here. We finally fall silent as, like a miracle, we reach the end of this blasted path.

It's a dead-end. Our high spirits immediately dampen. I don't want to walk back again, and Liri seems to think so too. But it seems to affect her mind as she suggests something crazy.

"We should go inside."

"Hah? Are you out of your mind?"

"You have your drill goddess, don't you?"

Oh. I'm with Liri in not wanting to walk back in that endless hall.

Once again, we form a line — drill, me, Liri — and push our improvised train through the wall.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

On the other side of the wall is a dreary dungeon cell almost like the one where we've come from. The stale damp air, like a bog on a hot summer day, chokes us near to puking. Try hard enough, and you'd smell that faint yet distinct smell of dried blood. Everything in this room exudes a feeling of hopelessness. But to call this room empty would be a mistake.

"Is that...?"

Our torch cuts through the thick darkness, and on the end of this room is the lifeless body of a child in rags. It's a sight so pitiful that Liri gasps in shock. On her neck, wrists and ankles are heavy iron cuffs linked to the wall, and those have been there for a while evident by the festering chafes on her once fair skin. Her dull yellow hair, longer that she probably is, scatter all over the floor. Dirty bandages wrap around her eyes — but the strangest detail about her are those heavily chained wings on her back.

"It's an angel... Rose, it's the corpse of an angel!"

Angel. What is an angel? That shady priestess Morgana Frey once warned me to never cross an angel's path. All I know about angels are that they only listen to the orders of their "master" — a god or goddess, and that they are fiercely loyal to them. Or so I read in a book about mystical creatures a long time ago. I'm sure I've also read how just a bunch of them could annihilate an entire human city in one night, but it doesn't sound right after seeing one bound to the wall like this. What else, she looks to young to even be a threat... although there's also that shorty, La Mei. She's a scary talented swordsman who can probably take on these guys by herself if only she tries to think with her head more than her sword.

The dead body stirs.

"AHH!"

Liri lets out a cute shriek as she falls on her butt out of shock — but without loading an arrow into her bow and aiming at the angel. How does she do that? What a pro.

"...............Is someone......there?"

Her frail voice cracks the tense atmosphere. She really is alive, isn't she? Liri tilts her head and looks at me with eyes asking me what to do now. I shrug back.

A thought pops up in my head, but I quickly dismiss it. I don't have to think about it. It won't help me a bit.

".........A dream?"

"Nope. We're adventurers who just happen to pass by."

".......Is that so?"

And our conversation ends with that. I don't see any good reason to help her now — but somehow Liri has another idea in store.

"Uh, I think it's best if we help her?"

"What?"

"I mean, look! It's the good thing to do, isn't it? When someone is in trouble, you should help them with all your heart! And she's... just a kid. Don't you feel sad?"

"The good thing? Nope. If she hasn't died of starvation or loneliness after all those years, then she's not going to die after we leave. So don't worry. In fact, we'd be doing her a service if we left now, sparing her the shame of someone looking at her pathetic self. Isn't that right, angel?"

"................."

The angel gracefully accepts my words by letting them pass through her like air, even cheekily smiling in defeat. Is she trying to frame me as the loser here? Who cares, no matter how smugly she smiles she's the real loser here.

As for Liri, I think she's made up her mind.

"Well, if Rose says so. It's still kind of a weird feeling being for a human to be that brutally honest. Is it really fine?"

"Being honest is good, don't you think?"

"It's all very confusing, but okay!"

A thumbs up from her. What little compassion she held in her eyes gradually fades away into chilling apathy. S—She looks freaking scary. Am I influencing her in a bad way? I hope not. I was a good example to Ela, after all. Look how good of a girl she grew up! She's so good she... ran away from home? Why the hell am I trying to justify myself to myself? Isn't that redundant?

"Let's go, Liri. We still have to find some food and water around here somewhere, if that's even possible."

"There's nothing to do but take our chances, right?"

We turn our backs on the poor angel bastard bound by heavy chains as our footsteps echo on this desolate room. But very briefly, the image of Ela in those chains flash on my head.

Nope. There's no time to think of probables. My heart isn't stirred even a bit. That angel may almost look the same age as Ela, but I know looks can be deceiving. Just look at our drill goddess, who looks all innocent on the outside.

I have completely stopped in my tracks, just before my last step out of the hole we made in this room. Liri looks at me with curiosity, wondering what's on my mind.

"Hey Liri, are there any benefits in saving that angel?"

"...None. Zero."

"That's right."

Unless I had an actual reason of saving that angel outside of "she's the same age as Ela", then I'd be fine in saving her. Hell, I'd be all for it. But there's no reward. Really?

I turn around and go back to the dungeon cell, much to Liri's surprise. She doesn't say anything though and follows me without a question, which is very thankful right now.

The chained angel with the long blonde hair is still here, silently waiting for her end. I don't know if she's sleeping or not, thanks to those bandages wrapped around her eyes, but I ask anyways.

"Hey angel, what's your name?"

".................what is it....to you?"

"It's a name to me. Now come on and spit it out."

"........Sinclair Heaventide."

"Good enough."

I grab our drill girl, who was standing at the corner all this time watching everything unfold with her gloomy face, and single out her finger. With extreme precision, I make the tip of her finger touch those intimidating chains, making them vanish as expected. What a utility tool this ghost/drill/lock pick girl is. One by one, the weights burdening her disappear, until I vanish the final locks — the ones binding her wings.

Her limp body falls to the ground.

"Rose... what are you doing?"

"There may be no benefits in saving her, but there aren't any risks as well."

"But why?"

"Why...? You'll see."

Sinclair shakily feels around her whole body with her frail hands. The chains are gone. Her face winces in pain when she tries unfurling her wings. Her legs are too weak to even stand up after years of inactivity.

"..............What is it, what are you planning, mortal?"

"Sinclair, who is the master you serve?"

".......No one. My master has abandoned me. The angels have betrayed me. Even my enemies have left me to rot in the darkness."

"And what is it your heart burns for now that you have tasted freedom? Is it... revenge?"

Her lips transform into a wicked crescent smile.

"......I am not that petty. I long to rule this world. To grab it from the bleeding hands of those foolish gods who have mocked me. I am the cleansing flame, Sinclair Heaventide, and I will purge this world of their lowly existence!"

Pure hatred flows from her mouth as she clenches her fist up the heavens, but it doesn't sound convincing enough from a blind crippled angel kid. I'm regretting this decision with every passing second.

"Then let's make a deal, Sinclair. I will help you conquer this world, in exchange for a wish."

"..........A wish? And what is this wish?"

"For what it really is, we'll just have to wait, won't we?"

".............................I don't want to trust you. Your voice sounds shady and you do not have any obligations to me. But the path to world domination is laden with snakes. Very well, I'll accept this contract for now."

"I don't really think I can trust your delusions, but for now it's fine."

Sinclair offers a handshake into empty air. It's like she's testing me. I don't hesitate to shake that fragile hand. Not too tight to break it, not too soft to feel insincere. The angel tries her best to return the same sincerity and even hides her wincing pain with a confident smile. It's the same handshake Ela and I have when we make a deal about the library. It's nostalgic in a way.

I don't trust her, and she doesn't trust me. But somehow, that becomes some sort of trust between us.

"Hmm. As a reward, I'll even grant you the honor of carrying this precious body of mine. Ha!"

Geh. This cheeky brat, offering her widespread arms waiting for me to carry her... dammit, I feel like I've made a huge mistake. It's still my mistake, so I have to own up to it. I carefully place her on my back, and once she's properly secured, I lift her off the ground.

"Whoa!....Now, my trusty steed, onwards to the battlefield where my crown awaits!"

Now she's calling me a horse while patting my wig. Just great. I want to speak up, but I can't shake off Liri's stare. After all that I've said about "being honest is good," I go and save this brat. I hate this. If only I wasn't this weak to stupid kids.

"Uh... why did you help her again?"

"Trust me, Liri. You just have to wait and see..."

"Really?"

"Just trust me on this one..."

"Okay! I'm sure you have a super cool plan just waiting in store, right?"

Her eyes overflowing with unwarranted trust really hurts.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

Our journey continues with another member to our party.

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